Surprise Palin pick in McCain mold

Saturday

Aug 30, 2008 at 5:56 AMAug 30, 2008 at 7:54 AM

JUNEAU, Alaska — In two short years, Sarah Palin moved from small-town mayor with a taste for mooseburgers to the governor's office and now — making history — to John McCain's side as the first female running mate on a Republican presidential ticket.

By STEVE QUINN and CALVIN WOODWARDThe Associated Press

JUNEAU, Alaska — In two short years, Sarah Palin moved from small-town mayor with a taste for mooseburgers to the governor's office and now — making history — to John McCain's side as the first female running mate on a Republican presidential ticket.In turning to her, McCain picked an independent figure in his own mold, one who has taken on Alaska's powerful oil industry and, at age 44, is three years younger than Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama and a generation younger than McCain, 72.Palin's selection was a jaw-dropper, as McCain passed over many other better known prospects, some of whom had been the subject of intense speculation for weeks or months."Holy cow," said her father, Chuck Heath, who got word something was up while driving to a remote hunting camp.Palin had been in the running-mate field but as a distinct long shot.She brings a strong anti-abortion stance to the ticket and opposes gay marriage — constitutionally banned in Alaska before her time — but exercised a veto that essentially granted benefits to gay state employees and their partners."She stands up for what's right, and she doesn't let anyone tell her to sit down." McCain said in introducing her to an Ohio rally. "She's exactly who I need." Said Palin: "I didn't get into government to do the safe and easy things. A ship in harbor is safe, but that's not why the ship is built." Democrats seized on the experience gap and said McCain now has no business questioning the seasoning of their nominee.Palin lives in Wasilla, a town of 6,500 about 30 miles north of Anchorage, with her husband, Todd, a blue-collar North Slope oil worker who won the 2007 Iron Dog, a 1,900-mile snowmobile race. He is part Yup'ik Eskimo. The two have spent summers fishing commercially for salmon.She came into office preaching reform at a time when a federal corruption investigation shadowed a number of Alaska's Republican elected officials. To rid the Capitol of the appearance of undue influence, she kept lobbyists out of her office.After two years in office, her popularity remains high; she has 80 percent approval ratings.But Palin's clean-hands reputation has recently come into question. A legislative panel is investigating whether she dismissed Alaska's public safety commissioner because he would not fire her former brother-in-law as a state trooper. Trooper Mike Wooten went through a messy divorce from Palin's sister.The governor denied orchestrating the dozens of telephone calls made by her husband and members of her administration to Wooten's bosses. She says she welcomes the investigation: "Hold me accountable." Even before McCain picked her, the mother of five was known to religious conservatives for choosing not to have an abortion after learning that she was carrying a child with Down syndrome. She gave birth to her son, Trig, in April.Her handling of this experience, her opposition to abortion, even her leadership of her high school chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes all could help McCain's standing with social conservatives who have been skeptical of him.Palin is "a woman of faith who has a strong position on life, a consistent opinion on judges," said Mathew Staver, dean of Liberty University School of Law and founder of the legal group Liberty Counsel, who has sought to coalesce evangelicals around McCain. "This will absolutely energize McCain's campaign and energize conservatives."